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New and Revised Policies and Procedures
Other Policies and Strategies
ADB has been reviewing and improving its policies, strategies,
and approaches to ensure that they are focused on results and are
relevant. In 2005, ADB reviewed its existing Private Sector Development
Strategy and started preparing a new strategy for regional cooperation
and integration. Following the review of its Private Sector Development
Strategy, ADB prepared and submitted to the Board of Directors a
new strategic framework. This focuses on enabling environment intervention
to create a level playing field for instruments, mobilization of
finance for private sector development, and new ways of financing
public goods and services. The framework is accompanied by an action
plan.
Setting the tone for policy review, meanwhile, the Public Communications
Policy was approved. After extensive and transparent consultations
with interested groups around the world, working drafts were posted
on the internet, and extensive comments were publicized on the ADB
intranet. ADB closely considered all contributions in the final
product, which is now setting a progressive tone for the organization’s
dissemination of knowledge and information.
Similar wide-ranging consultations were held as part of the review
of the implementation of ADB’s governance and anticorruption policies.
ADB circulated the review conclusions in the draft paper Improving
Governance and Fighting Corruption: Implementing the Governance
and Anticorruption Policies, which was made publicly available for
comment in December 2005.
The review finds that ADB has succeeded in raising the profile
of governance in the region and significantly increased assistance
between 2000 and 2004. However, the review concludes that there
is a long way to go toward embedding implementation of the governance
and anticorruption policies in the mainstream of ADB operations.
The sheer scope of the governance policy and its action plan has
resulted in too many small projects of short duration and thinly
spread staff resources.
The review also concludes that ADB has achieved some success in
dealing with fraud and corruption in procurement and in increasing
awareness of the Anticorruption Policy. But less progress has been
made in assessing the impact of corruption on a country's ability
to meet its development goals.
The review also finds that service delivery in many DMCs is plagued
by inefficiency and corruption, for example, in health, education,
water, licensing, revenue, and land titles. It says that higher
priority should be given to supporting investments in local transparency,
participation, and complaint mechanisms; and strong preventive measures
against corruption must be built into project design and followed
up with effective oversight and corruption risk mitigation management
during implementation.
ADB also continued implementation of its Performance-Based Allocation
Policy, which governs the allocation of grants and loans to borrowers
from the ADF.
And the year included work to prepare ADB’s second Medium-Term
Strategy, which will introduce some strategic measures as the first
steps to a more comprehensive longer-term ADB response to the rapid
and far-reaching changes in the region is experiencing. The document
will be made available in 2006 (www.adb.org/ Documents/Policies/MTS/2006/).
A review of ADB’s Long-term Strategic Framework is also to progress,
beginning in 2006.
Public
Communications Policy: Making Information Available |
| ADB’s new Public Communications Policy heralds
an ambitious shift toward sharing knowledge. ADB commits to
a refined and more focused approach to external relations,
with clear positions on issues of importance, better information
products to explain them, and wider distribution. The policy's
new rules regarding the disclosure of information about its
operations put ADB ahead of other international finance institutions.
The policy forthrightly supports the right of people to seek,
receive, and impart information and ideas about ADB’s activities.
Among its unique features, it will proactively make information
publicly available by posting it on the web, and not only
after a request. People should be able to find the information
they want, rather than having ADB presuppose what they need.
If the information ADB holds is not subject to clear confidentiality
criteria, it must be publicly disclosed. The policy even favors
disclosure of sensitive information if the public's interest
in receiving the information outweighs the harm that may be
caused to ADB. By leapfrogging other international development
organizations, the new policy puts ADB apace with a global
movement toward greater transparency and disclosure. The organization
believes that greater awareness and understanding of its objectives
will help generate public trust.
Disclosure Enables Participation
Overall, the more transparent approach under the policy ensures
that much more information will be available to the public
in the early stages of policies, country strategies, or projects—before
decisions are made and members of the public can no longer
influence the development initiatives that affect them. By
sharing information, people can better participate in decision
making.
ADB also recognizes that those who need information do not
necessarily have access to the internet. Early in the design
of projects that affect local residents, information will
be made available to the people likely to be affected, and
ADB will work closely with the borrower or project sponsor
to ensure information is provided and feedback sought. A focal
point will also be designated for regular contact.
Organizations such as national-level civil society groups
increasingly want to be involved in their country's development
strategy. ADB enables this involvement by requiring that draft
country strategies and programs be disclosed to in-country
stakeholders.
ADB regularly consults a wide range of groups before adopting
or revising new operational policies and strategies, and now
requires draft policy and strategy papers to be posted routinely
on its website.
Disclosure Enables Accountability
 The
policy supports the rights of people to seek, receive, and
impart information and ideas about ADB’s activities
From the beginning of open and broad-based consultations
with a huge spectrum of interests in preparing the policy—a
process one major nongovernment organization (NGO) called
the best policy review to date among multilateral development
banks—ADB has signaled a new direction under this policy.
As a public finance institution, it wants to be held publicly
accountable.
ADB-supported development activities are paid for by citizens
of its member countries, so the organization recognizes that
it needs to be transparent with the public. ADB reviewed all
the documentation it regularly produces and asked the question:
What is the harm in releasing this document? This puts the
onus on ADB staff to defend why information cannot be released.
The policy also favors “redaction” rather than withholding
of information; that is, ADB will remove the confidential
part of a document in order for the bulk of it to be released.
And ADB will not withhold information simply because it is
negative. It will report failures and disappointments, as
well as successes.
ADB now has strict time limits for responding to requests
for information, and regularly monitors the policy to ensure
that it operates in accordance with its principles and rules.
Reports on the policy's implementation will be produced and
disclosed annually.
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